OPINION: As the year turns, value personal progress over perfection

As I write, it is ‘Twixmas’, an irritating term of unknown origin that has made its way onto my list of most despised made-up words, just above ‘chillax’ and below ‘guesstimate’. Twixmas, apparently refers to that limbo-like period of time ‘betwixt’ Christmas and New Year, when many of us take time to reflect on the year just gone and formulate plans for the year ahead. So far, my reflections have encompassed rueing the amount of chocolate I’ve eaten over the past ten days, and wondering if in 2025 I will achieve the goal I have now spectacularly missed for three years running now: to buy a house.
For reasons unknown to myself, I made the mistake of logging onto LinkedIn during the holidays. I don’t know why any right-thinking person would do this voluntarily when they don’t need to be thinking about their professional development, but I got exactly what I deserved.
At the top of the page I see a guru bellowing in words: “Start 2025 as you mean to go on by setting some big goals and laying the foundations to transform your life completely, from your mindset and confidence, to your ability to…” Reader, I’m afraid it was at this point that I tuned out. It’s Twixmas, for god’s sake. I barely have the motivation to turn over on the couch, let alone “transform my life”.
We often fall victim at this time of year to the notion that now is the time to turn everything upside down. We resolve to become better versions of ourselves, create a list of goals, and fuel our new year ‘success’ with the failures of the past year. To become fitter, faster, financially better off. But what is success, anyway?
The year 2024 was a strange one for this writer. Knowing, after a prolonged period of ill-health in 2022 and a busy, exhausting 2023, that I needed change, I switched careers – not for the first time and veered into to a relatively junior role in a whole new sector.
To the career-driven, the move might not be seen as professional progress, but it offered me the chance to work in and learn about a whole new area—an incredibly rewarding experience. Financially, it did not align with my goals, as I went from a management position with creative freedom and flexibility to learning how to fit into someone else’s system. But crucially, it meant a lot less stress, a lot more free time and a far happier life.
I don’t mind admitting that it took me a while to make peace with the move, because we are conditioned to admire those whose careers follow an upward trajectory, and who gain, power, wealth and status. We are taught to respect the hustle. We’re constantly reminded that our worth is based on our productivity. I felt under pressure – pressure, I might add, from no one but myself – to use my extra free time to be achieving other things. In a world where, as a middle-aged grown-up, still uncertain about my own career path, I even felt like a bit of a failure.
Gradually, though, I began to realise consciously what my subconscious had already realised; that my decision had been driven not out of desperation or exhaustion, but by a desire to live more in line with my own values. I wanted balance, personal growth, peace and consistency. And soon, I found myself enjoying meaningful work in a supportive, nurturing environment with remarkable people, while investing in my health, family, friendships and learning in my free time.
Despite a lifelong aversion to the self-help genre, I used some of that spare time to read James Clear’s book ‘Atomic Habits’. It was revelatory. I learned that focusing on small, consistent changes, aligning habits with our values, designing supportive environments, and tracking progress can help to build lasting habits that lead to significant personal growth and success over time. The scaffolds, I suppose, that support change over time. Progress over perfection.
Twixmas has helped me to realise that the small consistent habits on which I focused consistently over the past year – getting more sleep, drinking more water, cooking better food, walking more steps, practicing gratitude and a small bit of Spanish every day have led me to a point in my life where despite not meeting my ‘big’ goal, I have somehow managed to transform a lot of the smaller things in my life for the better. For the first time in over two decades, I did not find myself crawling, exhausted, towards the Christmas break. Despite being financially worse off on paper, I recognise that – aside from a home of my own (yet) – I have pretty much everything I need in life.
I am not getting rich, winning awards, or getting to corporate-speak with pompous authority about the grind on LinkedIn, but all the same, I am in fact – with chocolates in hand on the couch – absolutely thriving.
There is therefore no need to ‘transform my life completely’ for the new year. In fact, I hope that 2025 simply brings more of the same for me, and I hope it brings lots of peace and contentment to all my lovely readers.